Tesla to put Model S "range anxiety" to rest on Thursday

While electric cars seem almost ideal from an environmental point of view, one of the biggest hurdles to their massive adoption is their range capabilities. Tesla, whose business hedges heavily on EVs, knows only too well what it now calls "range anxiety". So when it promises to calm all those nerves come March 19th, people in the automotive industry, especially its rivals in the electric vehicle market, will definitely await that day with piqued curiosities, if not a new kind of anxiety themselves: Tesla anxiety.

The latest P85D incarnation of the Model S already had some impressive benchmarks. It's "insane" speeds were documented, at least by Tesla's marketing machine, to have surprised unsuspecting riders. But as if to downplay their achievement, Tesla's Elon Musk claimed that those speeds were actually simply a side effect. The real goal was to give the P85D "insane traction" on snow. That it resulted in a speed bump was a happy coincidence. Or so Tesla says.

Things are bound to get even better, if Musk is once again to be believed. He announced over at Twitter that on Thursday, 9th March, the car maker will end range anxiety, or worry that you might stop dead in your tracks just because you miscalculated how far or long you'll need to drive. Last January, Tesla already promised an OTA update to the P85D to make it even more faster. Musk is promising to do the same, delivering an OTA to increase the range for all Model S family members.

It will be quite interesting what this OTA will involve. There is some speculation that the firmware will improve on the dual motor system of the P85D and 85D, but Musk does specifically mention it will affect the entire fleet. If so, then the improvements and changes will happen across the board and perhaps affect components that all Model S cars have in common. Whatever those might be, it is perhaps also interesting that they will only require a software update only and not a new component or, worse, an entirely new model. It will definitely spare users from trading in range anxiety for envy.

SOURCE: @Elon Musk